Crime & Justice

Woman killed in Santa Monica party bus shooting

One woman was killed and four other people were wounded in a shooting that occurred between party buses parked near the Santa Monica Pier.

The violent incident happened near Ocean and Colorado avenues just before 1 a.m. Saturday morning.

An altercation occurred after a bus pulled up and parked on Ocean Avenue near another party bus. Several occupants got out of one bus and got into an altercation with people who had gotten off the other bus. The situation escalated when occupants from the second bus fired into the first bus — striking three people.

People in the popular tourist area scattered after they heard the shots.

A woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Three surviving victims were hospitalized with injuries that weren't life-threatening. Two of them are still in the hospital, in stable condition. A fourth victim had minor injuries but wasn't taken to the hospital.

Police are looking for two or three black male suspects who ran through Palisades Park and jumped over a railing toward Pacific Coast Highway. All lanes on the westbound 10 Freeway toward PCH were closed.

NBC4 reporter Gene Kang says police are differentiating between the two busses, calling one the "victims bus" and the other "the suspect bus."

"The one bus called the Lion's Limo, that one was the one that actually had the victims on board. As for the suspects, they were on the other bus, a black bus that is very close to the Santa Monica Pier," he says.

Several weapons were found near the bus they reportedly had been on.

The area around Ocean and Colorado was closed on Saturday morning as Santa Monica and Los Angeles police officers investigated the crime.